For better or worse, yesterday proved this is now Tim Cook’s Apple

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The MacBook: MacBook Air 2.0 or a bridge too far?

Meanwhile, there’s the new MacBook, a Core M-based system with an extremely modest CPU, a sharp (and by all accounts, gorgeous) display, and a new keyboard design. In many ways, it’s the MacBook Air 2.0, a system that sacrifices performance and port count (the MacBook has just one USB Type-C port for power, peripherals, and data transfer) compared to a brace of USB 3.0 ports, a Thunderbolt 2 port, and an SDXC card slot on the MacBook Air.

It’s very thin and mostly portless (not counting dongles)

One major difference between the MBA and the MB: The brand difference between the MacBook and the MacBook Air in 2015 is much smaller than the difference between the original MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro. Back in 2008, Jobs made much of the ability to slide the MacBook Air effortlessly into an envelope, and while the new MacBook is still much thinner than the MacBook Air, thinness doesn’t pack the same intrinsic “wow” factor seven years later.

The weight difference between the two platforms is also much smaller. When the MacBook Air debuted at 3 lbs, the traditional MacBook weighed in at roughly 5.4 lbs. Today, the MacBook hits the 2lb mark compared to the 11-inch MacBook Air at… 2.3 lbs. That’s a noticeable difference, to be sure, but it’s scarcely the stuff exciting product launches are made of. Reports indicate that the company’s new Force Touch interface, which tracks how hard you push the trackpad, is a better design than the butterfly switches that replace the old scissor-switched keyboards.

Apple’s design philosophy has always focused on minimalism. Many times this has paid off in better hardware that’s simpler and easier for the consumer to use. But I can’t help feeling as though the MacBook’s single port is a bridge too far. A $79 dongle is available with a single USB 3.0 port, a Type-C charge port, and an HDMI video adapter, but this still prevents the end-user from simultaneously using both a USB thumb drive and a stand-alone wired mouse. As much as I respect Apple’s innovations in many areas and agree that the highly compact motherboard is a top-notch achievement, the end result, baked around the mediocre Core M processor, just doesn’t feel very attractive — Retina Display notwithstanding.

Apple’s response to these criticisms would be that it still makes plenty of laptops with ports enough for both a mouse and a thumb drive, and that’s true. I don’t doubt that the MacBook will sell, and that plenty of people will be happy with its single-port option and svelte profile. Personally, I’ll never have much use for it — when I wrote that USB-C could eliminate laptop power cables a few months ago, I anticipated that manufacturers might use that space to add more useful ports, not remove ports altogether.

An uneven introduction

Part of the problem with yesterday’s announcements is that the Apple Watch’s technological capabilities have been overtaken by a discussion of its price, while the MacBook’s design feels like a tired repeat of a concept that was much more revolutionary back in 2008. “Make the MacBook Air Airy-er” isn’t a great tagline for an event, but that’s what the MacBook does. That doesn’t mean the system won’t sell, but it lacks the style or flair that Jobs summoned when he launched the original MacBook Air.

Speaking of Jobs, he’s cast a long, long shadow, but this event and its various launches feel largely free of his influence, if not his design principles. I won’t pretend to know whether Steve would’ve approved of Apple’s decision to pivot for the luxury market, but we can at least observe that Apple didn’t play in this space under his tenure. Cook has decided to do so.

A cynic might note that leaping to capture an untapped luxury market is an excellent example of selling sizzle over steak. We’ve previously written about the difficulty of nailing the wearables market and the lack of any current killer product. Selling Apple Watch Edition’s to those able to afford a $10,000-$17,000 gewgaw is one way to make certain your hardware is on the wrists of the rich and famous, even when they don’t know why they bought it or what it can do for them.

Just how cynical this prediction looks 12 months from now will depend on whether or not Apple is able to create a real ecosystem and value proposition around its new wearables. If the devices take off like the iPhone and iPad, the Apple Watch will cement itself in Apple’s product line as the inevitable future of any iPhone owner. If not, it’ll still make money in the interim — and that, after all, is what keeps investors happy.

Tagged In

I’m not really sure if this is a political opinion, an income class opinion, a business opinion, or a technical opinion piece. It is a little all over the place so I’m not sure how to read it. I think there is a lot of speculation for such a strong article. Currently Apple is offering a lot of options from cheaper watches to minimalistic notebook users. I’m not sure there is a case here yet that Apple is going to corner itself in the top earners section of the market.

I agree that Apple has felt less innovative in the last few years, at least from a “Big Idea” perspective. They have been plenty innovative in the details of their products. I don’t believe it is time to brush them off as a has-been yet. Innovation takes time and I still have hope that a big idea will meet technical reality soon from Apple. Innovation can come from anyone, but I gravitate toward Apple because of the sheer quality and attention to detail they provide in their products.

bmwman91

If it is true that they are going to make a car, then that might be the next big step you speak of. I agree that their hardware is top-notch in terms of quality. It is not perfect, but it has a lot fewer issues than most competing brands’ devices. Frankly, it is their software that keeps me from using their products (and the keyboards on Macbooks…Lenovo still makes the best KB’s despite the rest of their laptops going to crap). I guess we will see if they will give Tesla a run for its money. Apple certainly has the cash to build a car company from scratch.

deejah

I had a hard time with Apple’s software early on as well. Now with cloud software everywhere it has been a lot less limiting in choices. Staying in tune with other people and businesses isn’t nearly as difficult as it use to be. In fact, most of the time it is a non-issue unless you are into a certain game.

With OS X I initially felt limited, and I still am to a certain extent. But once you dive into the terminal and option files there isn’t a whole lot you can’t do.

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rahuldey85

It will make much more sense if they buy Tesla rather than compete with them.

Joel Hruska

It is definitely an opinion piece, but it touches on these other areas.

Mostly, it’s a piece about how Apple is changing. I’m not trying to take an absolute stake on how that change is good or bad because I can’t tell yet. But I think the fact that a great deal of verbiage has been spun on the price of Apple’s new watch (as opposed to its usefulness or its technological achievements) is telling.

deejah

It certainly is an interesting observation. Although it is hard not to comment when you hear a watch is going to cost $10k. :) Not sure I would buy something like that even if I could afford it. Not without a garrauntee that I could just put in the upgraded version of the technology later. But, wear what you dig I guess.

Gustavo López Agüero

I will never pay 10K for a watch that will be garbage in 5 years, never! I love watches, I have a collection that I’m proud of, and I will give it to my son and grandchild one day….I believe this watches are for “new money” people with inferiority complex.

please note I’m talking about the 10K+ watches…..the $400 are just toys for geeks.

“I believe this watches are for “new money” people with inferiority complex.”

Are you saying your choice of watch collection is better than someone else’s choice of watch collection?

Sounds like you have the real inferiority complex.

Gustavo López Agüero

ButtHurt? Sorry.

If you pay +10K for a watch that will be garbage in 5 years or less…you have a problem.

None of my watches, if somebody takes good care of them, will be garbage in 30, 40 or 100+ years.

A collection of watches that lasts 100 years is better than a collection that lasts 5 years. IMO.

But all this is MY OPINION, you do whatever makes you happy.

Brian Benghazi Piper

I collect news articles of Political scandals so when my kids are being “told” by a book that some moron is a great person I can show them the truth.

Gustavo López Agüero

that’s an interesting hobby you got there…you can even make books with that info. cool.

Brian Benghazi Piper

They wouldn’t sell, people don’t like the truth.

Gustavo López Agüero

I do, I always want to hear BOTH sides of any story….and I’m not the only one.
you can even create a blog and post the articles.

Michaels_28

In 5 YEARS? I was thinking more on the line of 6 months..

ronch

Depends when the next Watch generation comes along. When it does, the current-gen Watch would be like last year’s phone models.

dc

Since when is Denny’s a high end restaurant?

I live in on an island on the Florida coast. Guess what? ? ? No Denny’s. Of course there is no Outback either. There are two 5 star restaurants you can eat steak at though. But both are priced quite a bit above Outback. Not being rich, I stick to pizza.

And what about Chipotle? It’s mostly a middle class restaurant, higher end than McDonalds for sure, but certainly doesn’t compete with fine dining. It’s kicking butt. Similarly Steakshack is rocking it. And while McDonalds has lost market share, both Burger King and Wendy’s have gained market share. I doubt either is catering to the 1 percent.

I actually think Apple made a big mistake with the 10k watch. It has garnered huge media exposure. The average guy who could buy a 350 dollar watch, may well not do so because they are confused about the price of the watch. And I don’t think they will sell enough 10k watches to make up the difference.

But time will tell.

For myself, I think it’s a loser because of it’s size. It’s marketed as a health watch (another confusing marketing ploy). As a guy who lifts weights like a religion, there is no way I’d wear that chunk of metal in the gym. It’s too big, too heavy and too expensive to be around large heavy weights. It’s not hard to imagine what happens when the 405 pound barbell comes into contact with the iWatch. Even worse would be the damage that could happen to my wrist because I was wearing it. It just doesn’t compete well against say Fitbit for that market. The Fitbit is lightweight, plastic and totally unobtrusive.

Oh and one other thing, you say the MacBook Pro is 2 pounds and the Air is 2.3?? Is that right? Makes no sense to me.

There is only one high end Denny’s and it’s in NYC. It is largely a failure because nobody wants overpriced cheap food.

Joel Hruska

It’s not. Dennys is booming and high-end restaurants are booming.

Gustavo López Agüero

yes, it is a failure….since you must be in NYC, please go there one day. I’ve been there twice, the restaurant was almost empty and the service was terrible….why did I come back? not my choice, it was a company lunch/meeting arranged by somebody else.

“I could be wrong on that front — I’m a journalist, not a marketing executive.”

The fact that you feel you _could_ be wrong signifies the naming scheme is a fail. My initial impression was if it’s called the Apple Watch Edition, then are the other two editions not considered real watches?

Zunalter

“Apple has made its billions by targeting what I’d call the high-end of the mass market.”

So, instead of squeezing every last penny they could from the middle class, they decided to target a group with a much larger disposable income?

Also, on a side note, do we know if the middle class is disappearing upward or downward? I would assume a smaller middle class is okay if its because they are joining the upper.

they catch the wealthy people with issues like the boys bands making money of girls with no sexual graticication,but buying iphones is not so expensive, a lot of people will not buy an iphone cos they dont like not they cant afford (like many fans with 1 ounce brains) in their littile brains they cant understand that outside there are people that CAN MAKE CHOICES,READ REVIEWS and people can live ok without burning in mental hell cos their shirts are from gap

Zunalter

Peoples lives are empty, they are just fulfilling their need for conflict by projecting over-importance onto stupid things

MisterBlat

“Apple Watch Edition instead implies that it’s the “Watch Edition” of Apple itself. This could be a marketing move meant to appeal to precisely the kind of consumer with $10,000+ to drop on a watch. “

That is, those with more money than brains.

BtotheT

I say we find each wrist it’s put on, and hack um off.
Or even better put a bomb in all the gold models and blow um off.
Dragon Sickness, fuk um.

They failed to lend a hand so they lost one.

You could give over 30 people the operation to cure their blindness with that 10K. And these Fux wear it on their wrist as a status symbol.

It’s time to flip the board on this monopoly game.

We’re no better than the brutes of the caste systems of the past, it’s ever more evident we let the few squander all of our potential. For what? A confidence boost in place of a 1,000 full stomachs?

They should be spit on not idolized.

goldenboy77

overpriced junk the amount of gold here is less then 3/4 of a ounce what a joke that means 900 dollars of gold the price should be 1,500 at most what a ripoff

Haresh Janardhan

Indeed I rather invest in real gold ,than on a mini circuit board from China for an icon Apple on the wrist. Even a reputable 10K self running automatic watch could do you more justice in all sensibility of having.

BtotheT

Steve Jobs would roll over.

Joel do a piece on the Saygus V2.
Now that’s a conversation piece.

Mikael Murstam

I think it is wrong to assume that apple is changing its strategy from now on. A watch has long also been a jewelry, that’s why they create this gold watch. They will most likely not create luxury products in any other category.

ronch

I’m not sure Apple can easy pry rich folks from the likes of Rolex, Patek, etc. IMHO, Apple’s new watch will just be seen as a new toy wrapped in gold, but not nearly as classy and prestigious as the established watch marques out there. Rich folks know paying for an expensive timepiece means more than buying gold and diamonds. You can put gold and diamonds on a Casio, but nope, they won’t turn it into a Cartier.

Gustavo López Agüero

most rich people are not stupid, who will pay $10k for a watch knowing that this watch will be garbage in 5 years?….watches are not like smartphones, luxury watches are status statements, shows your class, your education…and you expect to pass it on to your sons, daughters, grandchild.

ronch

Yup. Rich folks didn’t become rich by being stupid and making foolish purchase decisions. On the contrary, they know when to buy something, whether they should ever buy it or not, and how much to pay for it.

bmwman91

SOME rich people have common sense. Have you ever known anyone that works on Wall Street? In that world of money, you absolutely DO need to blow cash to prove your net worth to everyone you come into contact with. I don’t know if the Apple Watch will have any appeal there or not, but conspicuous consumption and money flaunting most certainly are things that numerous high net worth people engage in.

ronch

Of course. It’s part of the game. These people know luxury and high living and they flaunt it. Not all, of course, but many folks in this category flaunt their credibility with BMWs, Pateks, etc. Will a gold-laden iWatch work for them? Maybe, but as I’ve said, these folks have acquired a different taste. They know when something will enhance their money image or not. Apple is an expensive brand but I reckon they’re still seen as mainly a purveyor of expensive electronics. Flaunting a Mac Air is different from flaunting a fashion accessory even if both are from the same company.

danny96

its like tycoons would buy a non fixable ferrari? most people buy apple cos they have patholical need to be popular like(gold digging blondies, 40 year old teeangers, men with hairy palms)

ronch

I guess this article firmly puts me in the middle class group. Asus Zenfone 6, a $550 Lenovo Core i5 laptop, Citizen Eco Drive watch. OK, not exactly McDonald’s, but far from Beverly Hills either. And I’m totally OK with that because I don’t really feel like paying 2x or 3x for the Apple logo. (Oh, and I could buy five Asus Zenfone 6 phones with five 64GB microSD cards for the price of just one iPhone 6 Plus 128GB. Even a rich man can appreciate that!)

Apple is a zombie, without brain, just looking for profit instead of innovation and vision. The people think about apple, realted to well build but overpriced devices, then Tim get this people to pay for more for apple products. Profit, Profit.

Gustavo López Agüero

Well, Apple is like that NOW….with Steve Jobs was different.
Yes, like ANY other company, they want money, a lot of money….but S.J. was a genius with an awesome vision….Tim is crap to me.

chojin999

Nonsense.
The iPhone wasn’t the first smartphone on the market either.
Apple improved usability and functionality of the smartphone with the iPhone while Nokia and Microsoft and RIM/Blackberry hadn’t been able to.
Nokia is dead now even thanks to Microsoft and RIM/Blackberry is a zombie.

With the iPad then Apple was first on the market and all competitors were claiming that that would have been a huge flop. And they were wrong once again.

Now with the smartwatch competitors tried to sell their crap products for more than 2 years but it was a huge mess. Low quality products, lack of usability, lack of features, bad marketing.
Apple with the Apple Watch is giving customers a reason to buy and use it. Something no other competitor has been able to so far.

That is the reason why the Apple Watch is going to be a huge success just like the iPhone and the iPad.

Gustavo López Agüero

Your reply doesn’t seem to be really for me….right?

danny96

like iphone 5c, so you would say bieber are better musicians than sting cos he sells more?.give me a break you re well known devoted 24×7 fan to praise apple a find a reason to patch everything apple does

Tony_IA

Apple just posted $18 billion dollar profit in January, the largest single quarter profit of any company in human history. They have enough disposable income they can play with markets and not worry about the outcome. They are putting $1000 of gold into a $500 watch and charging $10k for it…if people are willing to buy this overpriced bauble, then Apple makes $8.5k profit on every sale – not bad. This is a win/win for Apple. Either rich people will buy the watches, or Apple gives them away to the rich and powerful as gifts because what’s $100k to them, a couple hours of profit? Big deal. On the other hand, if they sell a bunch of these high end gadgets, it opens the door to a future market of other gold covered every day items with the Apple logo on them. My wife per-ordered and has a gold colored iPhone…why not sell one with real gold? It could happen, and this is a perfect test of the water. Personally, I think it’s just plain disgusting, like a gold gun or toilet, a blatant display of wealth. But if someone gave me any of these devices, I would take it…and probably sell it after showing it off for a bit!lol. Say what you want about Apple, they have no fear of overpricing their equipment. They didn’t earn that profit by giving their customers the most bang for their buck.

danny96

same people who buy 500$ hamburgers , so you buy to showing off, sorry for your depressing life, wasting money to impress people who doesnt give a shit about you, is kardashian your nice?

MarcB1969

The iWatch seems like a step back from the trend toward having a single device handle multiple functions and away from wearing watches in general due to the ubiquity of cell phones. The fact that the Apple watch requires a connection to a mobile phone to be fully utilized will turn away many of the Apple faithful who prefer minimalism. I see this as a contrived product from a company fighting the innovation plateau which was bound to happen at some point. This is Apple’s version of the mid-life crisis sports car.

danny96

do you see a car made by apple? leather upholstery getting trashed after few months, 5 gallons tank,bumpers paper thin metal made in china aimed to people who feel like shit but have money

Well, I think Apple got it right this time. Wear this thing in gold, people will see it and know you have the money to afford it. Exactly what luxury watches mean to imply.
Pricing the “Edition” watches at 17000$ was provocative enough to make the whole world speak about it: most people agree on it being too expensive while silently desiring it.
After all, everyone knows the product and Apples Money Bin is making Scrooge even more envious. The next step will be to deliver a top-notch watch next year when the brand is settled in the market.

What is the difference between most latin-american countries and USA and UE? The existence of the mid-class. There is nothing like mid-class in latin-america or it is very narrow. Mid-class is the one paying most of the taxes that high-class don’t want to pay (and has financial instruments to do so) and low-class cannot pay. And modern states rely on… TAXES.

And… mid-class is mild-conservative. Revolutions come from people that has nothing to loose like working low-class.

So? USA and UE want to overload mid-class with the economic crisis (generated by the finantial markets)? OK great. Look you future, is called Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina or even Brasil, countries without mid-class. In Spain (UE) now we have elections after the mid-class being smashed by years… so a party like Podemos will get many many votes. Podemos = Venezuela (as a matter of fact Venezuela give money to Podemos).

So please don’t mess with mid-class. Thanks. And I’m sorry the off-topic.

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